You have asked whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under
chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 124743.

The State Library and Archives Commission received a request for "all receipts for certified
copies, including all supplementary documentation incident to the copies, such as copy
request slips, ledgers, or request forms made or retained by your office" during two one-week
periods. The requestor refers to section 552.124 of the Government Code and asks for all
available information after the records are marked to withhold identifying information. You
seek to withhold from disclosure the types of materials requested and reproduced for patrons
to safeguard the privacy of those individuals under section 552.124:

[I]f the requestor submitting the enclosed request - - or another individual
making a similar request in the future - - knew that a particular individual had
requested materials from the commission's holdings on a given day(s) and
knew the focus of that individual's research, it would be possible to make a
fairly accurate determination of what materials that individual had used even
if the name had been redacted from the copy request slips and materials request
form.

Section 552.124 makes confidential, with certain exceptions, "[a] record of a library or
library system, supported in whole or in part by public funds, that identifies or serves to
identify a person who requested, obtained, or used a library material or service." We agree
that section 552.124 requires redaction of the names, addresses, and any other information
that specifically identifies library patrons. We have reviewed the records at issue, which
were submitted to this office for review. The patron names, patron initials, patron addresses,
and registration numbers if they identify the patrons, are confidential under section 552.124.
However, the dates, copy number and cost amounts do not serve to identify the patron and
are therefore not confidential under section 552.124. See Open Records Decision No. 649
at 3 (1996) (confidentiality provisions strictly construed). Thus, all of the information
except for the patron names, patron initials, patron addresses, and registration numbers if
identifying as to the patron, must be released.

We are resolving this matter with an informal letter ruling rather than with a published open
records decision. This ruling is limited to the particular records at issue under the facts
presented to us in this request and should not be relied upon as a previous determination
regarding any other records. If you have questions about this ruling, please contact our
office.